April 18, 2010

Texas Tech receivers still catching lots of balls

LUBBOCK _ One thing new Texas Tech coach Tommy Tuberville doesn't have to worry about is his receiver's abilities to catch the football.

Under former coach Mike Leach, Tech receivers had a history of being able to put up some of the most staggering statistics in the nation. And it doesn't look like that'll change under Tuberville.

A total of 14 Red Raiders caught at least one pass during Saturday's Black-and-White spring game, which ended in a 24-24 tie. For Terch, that's a good sign since they still plan on keeping defenses on full alert by filling the airwaves with footballs.

"We have had no problems at all catching the ball this spring,'' Tuberville said. "I think all of our receivers have done a good job concentrating and catching the ball in a crowd and making plays, and (Saturday) was no exception.

Torres, who will likely be the Raiders' primary receiver next season, made several catches where he had to adjust his body in the air. That got the attention of Tuberville.

"Alex Torres did great, and I'm not surprised,'' Tuberville said. "He can catch the ball.

"The one thing that these receivers can do, especially Alex, is they adjust to the ball in the air. He's a great guy to go deep to, because he can adjust to the ball there and he can catch it any where.''

Ward also has shown the ability to catch the ball if it's anywhere near him.

"I think I played pretty good compared to last year, because I was more prepared for this year,'' Ward said. "I just wanted to work on the small things I need to work on.''

Seth Doege, who started the spring game because quarterbacks Steven Sheffield (foot) and Taylor Potyts (hand) sat out with injuries, was pleased with what he got from the receivers.

"Overall I think I had some ups and downs,'' said Doege, who completed 24-of-34 passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns. "But overall the offense, I think we had a successful scrimmage and I think it's a building block going into the summer.''

The Raiders have implemented an offense they call NASCAR, where they hurry to the line of scrimmage and snap the ball play after play after play.

"It's a high tempo offense and we're still building on it,'' Doege said. "It's fast, but it's not really where we want it to be yet. One of our goals is to get 100 plays every game.'

The receivers are able to take advantage using the NASCAR offense, because the quick snaps forces the defense into a hurry-up situation.

"During practice you'll hear some of the defensive guys say when ya'll run that NASCAR stuff we can't get set up, we don't have a play, we'rre tired,'' Doege said. "So it puts a lot of pressure on the defense.''

Torres acknowledged that it wasn't a perfect spring game by any stretch of the imagination.

"There's a lot we've got to get cleaned up and a lot of little mistakes that we made here and there,'' Torres said. "But we got a lot accmplished.

"We've got a real good mix of the pass and the run in the game right now.''